Miami Heat: Reviewing The Shaq Trade (again)

A poster on a previous entry asserted that the Lakers' recent championship proves that Los Angeles unequivocally won the trade with the Heat in 2004.

I don't agree.

Both franchises got what they wanted.

While I liked the Heat's 2003-04 team, the odds were against its core winning a championship without significant outside help. The trade paid off. The Heat reached the Conference Finals the next season, and probably would have advanced had Dwyane Wade been healthy. Then the Heat won its title.

The two subsequent seasons were not nearly as good. (Understatement.) But the Heat knew that was the risk when it acquired Shaq. And the franchise hasn't stayed down long.

So the trade was a win.

Naturally, it was for the Lakers as well, even if it didn't look that way to everyone at first. They had to deal Shaq; the situation had become toxic there. It might have been an even bigger win if not for the unfortunate trade of Caron Butler for Kwame Brown. But Lamar Odom and (to a lesser degree) Jordan Farmar contributed to a championship. (Farmar was taken with the pick that the Heat sent over, along with Butler, Odom and Brian Grant.)

And now the Lakers are primed to contend for more.

But it's a mistake to attribute that all to the trade.

The Lakers have been lucky.

They got three gifts.

-- Derek Fisher needed to return to a big city to get the proper medical care for his daughter. So Utah let him go.

-- Memphis dumped Pau Gasol for next to nothing.

-- Orlando wanted a shooter, so it sent away Trevor Ariza for Brian Cook.

The Heat needs a gift this offseason, or next, and it will be back in serious contention.